In a high-stakes legal rebuke of the Trump administration’s crackdown on critical press, a federal judge has ordered the immediate restoration of White House press access for three major news organizations that were blocked from the complex last week by former President Donald Trump.
The District of Columbia District Court granted a temporary restraining order against the administration’s ban, requiring that CNN, MS NOW, and Politico regain their press hard passes for a 14-day period as the legal challenge moves forward. The outlets filed suit shortly after their reporters had their permanent White House access credentials confiscated, arguing the blanket ban violated core constitutional protections for a free press.
The Trump administration defended the move in court, claiming the three organizations had repeatedly published false reporting and that their continued access posed a threat to U.S. national security. District Judge Timothy Kelly rejected both of the administration’s central arguments in his ruling.
Kelly found that the three outlets have a strong likelihood of ultimately prevailing in their lawsuit, specifically noting that the White House failed to follow basic standards of due process when it revoked the press passes without prior notice or a formal review process. He also pushed back sharply on the administration’s last-minute national security framing, pointing out that Trump made no mention of national security risks when he first announced the ban publicly.
In his written ruling, Kelly emphasized: “The record lacks factual support for Defendants’ contention that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes will in fact protect national security or that national security will be endangered if the Court orders their passes reinstated while this litigation proceeds.”
As of Tuesday, the White House has not issued an official response to the court’s ruling. Legal teams representing the president have not ruled out additional legal action to defend the original ban, setting the stage for a prolonged legal battle over the limits of executive power to restrict press access to the White House.